More than a decade after trailblazing designer and creative visionary Grace Lillian Lee established the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair's fashion performance, the celebrated event is set to soar with a landmark collaboration with First Nations Fashion + Design in 2025.
Lee's journey began with CIAF in 2013, when she launched the fashion performance at the Ufla Upla Textile Conference. Since then, her creative leadership and founding of FNFD—a national platform supporting Indigenous designers and models—have elevated Indigenous fashion to the global stage.
This month, the talented designer was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Design by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), marking a major career achievement, celebrating her impact on design, fashion, and community engagement.
Commenting on her return to the CIAF fold, Lee shared her excitment.
"FNFD is thrilled to ignite its partnership with CIAF in a celebration of creativity and innovation. Together, we are embracing this new chapter dedicated to creating opportunities and pathways for designers to share their unique stories with the world," she said.
This year CIAF's Look & Listen Fashion Performances will take place at Tanks Arts Centre on the July 10-11 and will spotlight 12 First Nations designers influenced by professional development workshops from FNFD.
With CIAF's 2025 theme, Pay Attention! inviting deeper audience engagement with First Nations stories, the fashion program will showcase collections that fuse bold creative expression with personal and cultural narratives, enhanced by a powerful new mentoring component.
CIAF Fashion Coordinator and Curator of Look & Listen, Lynelle Flinders, said partnering with FNFD is a significant opportunity to build capacity and elevate the presentation and development of Indigenous fashion.
"CIAF, in collaboration with Grace Lillian Lee and FNFD, intends to elevate designers to a more advanced stage in their careers—to help expose them to larger markets and audiences," she said.
In the lead-up to the Fair, FNFD will deliver five mentoring and capacity-building workshops—both in person and online—covering concept and design development, sourcing fabrics, textile knowledge, pattern making, and branding.
This year's Look & Listen performances—re-imagined under Artistic Director Teho Ropeyarn—will be presented as two distinct showcases. Look invites audiences to engage with the visual power of six dynamic designers, including Sandra and Shara Delaney, Robert Tommy Pau, Irene Robinson and Darlene Fell, Hope Vale Arts Centre, Felicity Chapman, and a guest collaboration.
Listen shifts the focus to storytelling, featuring collections by Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, Lisa Lui, and others whose work expresses intergenerational narratives and deep cultural meaning.
Creative Australia's Flourish funding program supports CIAF's partnership with FNFD. Tickets to CIAF's Look & Listen fashion performances are now available online.
CIAF will run from Thursday the 10th to Sunday the 13th of July 2025 at Tanks Arts Centre, Look & Listen will be performed on the 10th and 11th of July.
For more fashion, culture, arts and lifestyle news subscribe for free to the Style Up newsletter.
